STANDING THE TEST OF TIME Manhasset Specialty Company is celebrating 90 years in 2025, thanks to its roots in a simple philosophy: make a product so good, customers keep coming back. — By Kimberly Kapela
T his year marks a major milestone for music stand manufacturer Manhasset Specialty Company: its 90th anniversary. While the company celebrates, it’s also re- flecting on nearly a century of supporting musicians across the globe, while continuing to chart a forward-looking path founded on product durability and community. Started in 1935 by musician Otto Lager- vall, Manhasset was born from a drive to create a more durable, functional and reliable music stand that caters to both beginners and professionals. Today, Manhasset’s stands are trusted by symphonies, school bands, music educators and artists around the world. “We have a lot of pride in this,” said Jason Carter, Manhasset’s president. “We’re an employee-owned company and most of our folks have been with the company for 20-plus years, so we really have a lot of pride in the product and in the company as a whole. We want to make sure that we can contribute to the arts in our own little way. We’re one of the few [companies where] a beginning musician and a pro-level artist at Carnegie Hall would still be using [our] exact same product.” BUILT TO LAST At the heart of the company’s success is the Symphony Stand, which has become a fix- ture in rehearsal rooms and concert halls. Its functionality speaks not only to Lagervall’s original vision but also to the company’s on- going commitment to craftsmanship. “Its dependability is what makes it timeless,” Carter said. “We were the first to introduce the friction clutch adjustment. Everything before that had a knob, and ours has no knobs.” That innovation, introduced decades ago, eliminated one of the most frustrating aspects
Company has made strategic investments in automation and process improvements to ensure consistency and maintain a com- petitive edge in a global market dominated by lower-cost manufacturing. “We’ve invested in automation to help our quality get even better, as well as to compete with cheaper labor overseas,” Carter said. A BRAND THAT ENDURES After nine decades of consistent excellence, Manhasset’s commitment to craftsmanship and durability has earned it a rare kind of trust in the music world that spans generations. Following in the footsteps of this long- standing legacy, Carter offers simple but powerful advice to any company hoping to build a brand that endures and that’s to put quality first. “Make sure you make a good product, and people will keep coming to you,” Carter advised. That mindset has guided Manhasset through changing markets and shifts in manufacturing practices. Rather than chase trends, the company has remained grounded in its founding principle to build something worth trusting. “We’re going to keep going and doing what we’re doing,” he said. “Incremental improvements are what we do best, and try to meet the needs of musicians going forward.” Still, every stand that leaves the Manhas- set factory carries with it the legacy of Otto Lagervall’s original vision, that being a product that meets the musician where they are, whether they’re just picking up an instrument for the first time or performing under the bright lights of Carnegie Hall. It’s that rare combination of heritage and sustainability that has allowed Manhasset to remain a legacy brand of the MI industry for 90 years — and counting. MI
Manhasset Specialty Company’s Jason Carter
of older stands by constant loosening and retightening. Instead, Manhasset engineered a design that musicians could set and forget — freeing them to focus entirely on their performance. Beyond innovation, Manhasset’s com- mitment to quality is timeless. “We work to maintain that quality ev- ery day,” Carter said. “We offer a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects, which I don’t think a single other stand company is doing.” Part of what makes that level of quality possible is Manhasset’s deep-rooted dedi- cation to American manufacturing and employee ownership. Every stand is made in the U.S., and as a 100% employee-owned company, Manhasset runs on collabora- tion that’s been ingrained since its origins. “It’s something we really believe in,” Carter explained. “We do sell a significant amount of product overseas, but we are a company based in America, and we want to provide all of our U.S. musicians with a good-quality product at a reasonable price.” In recent years, Manhasset Specialty
14 I MUSIC INC. I SEPTEMBER 2025
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